Monster Monpiece Doing Well; Compile Heart Apologize For Shortages

Compile Heart’s first PlayStation Vita title, Monster Monpiece, has been well-received, the company announced on their website this past weekend. Compile Heart shipped 27,000 copies of the game in Japan and they’re selling out.

27,000 copies sold at launch isn’t a large number by any means, but it’s good enough for Compile Heart whose Hyperdimension Neptunia games also tend to sell around 30,000 copies in their respective launch weeks.

Compile Heart apologize for the shortages and say they’ll be sending a new shipment of Monster Monpiece out to stores on January 30th. Their next Vita game is Holy Sorcery Story, a dungeon crawler slated for release in March.

So, what is Monster Monpiece? It’s a card-battling game with monster re-imagined as monster-girls and an “extreme love” system that involves rubbing the Vita screen.

It really sucks if you do not reside in Japan. On Amazon the LEs are usually at least 1500-2000 Yen off (approx. 20%). Only shops matching amazon’s prices closely are amiami (they’re quickly sold out, however) and nippon-yasan (price soars high if sold-out everywhere else)

Elfyra

actually, I have friend in Japan, but I was hesitant to get it
That Neptune card! Now I regret it even more…

That Neptune card is pretty nice, indeed. Dunno whether it’s included in the standard edition as mine was sticky-taped on top of the main box’s plastic wrapping. guess it was an Amazon pre-order bonus.
Now I know that Neptune is a Demi-H(uman), had no clue ^^

So the game’s actually good huh.. yeah, AmiAmi has the best price on LE and sells out their pre-orders fast.. too bad Amz Jpn doesn’t ship games overseas, but it’s sold out there too.. so you got the LE huh? Would you say the artbook is worth it? I heard it’s kinda small. Didn’t realize the game was Cero D, the artwork is so nice.. otherwise would’ve gotten it lol.. cdjapan had some nice bonuses too, now regret not getting it :(… my Vita’s back needs to be scratched too :)

The artbook is (as you’ve probably guessed already by examining my picture) pretty small. It’s the same format as the Vita case. I like it a lot as it includes some beautiful fully colored artwork and follows up with sketches of the 40 monster girls (モンスター娘 -monsutâ musume- literally means “monster daughter” but that sounds kinda creepy, so I’ll stick to the more neutral “monster girl” moniker). It’s a nice bonus plus you get physical cards of 3 monster girls as well. Two of them are “Buddies” (i.e. partners) of the heroine (Mei) and her best friend (Elza).

You see, in this world the monster girls are kinda like pokemon. Usually they reside within their master’s cards only being released to battle. Buddies, however, interact with and give advice to their masters. Fia (the wolf girl on the LE cover) is Mei’s buddy and she loves to battle and has a sweet tooth, she also despises staying in the card so she sticks around Mei permanently. Grace is a Harpy of sorts and she is quite the opposite and mainly stays within Elza’s cards.

Aoshi00

monster musume, sounds cute *.*;.. now I really regret not getting it.. was afraid the game wouldn’t be good w/ just some ecchi shots as bait, cuz I got burned by Touch Shot, the BBS system sucked.. MonMon’s got great reviews on Amazon Jpn being an actually good card game.. maybe I would just get the regular edition if I can’t get the LE.. totally jealous lol..

Well, to be honest I did not know what to expect from the game but as I’m staying in Tokyo until the end of this month I thought, why not, the LE is actually cheaper on Amazon (thanks to their usual discount) than importing the standard one after I return to Germany. Glad I did.

The Amazon ratings are always a good indicator as Japanese reviewers on Amazon are quite harsh. There is one hilarious troll review (1 star by xboxfan something ^^). It’s really funny to read and luckily easily discernible as a troll review. Guy’s a master troll reviewer (his other reviews are hilarious as well – especially as he rates the same game on PS3 1 star while the 360 version receives 5 stars ^^).

I like it a lot but it is aimed squarely at gamers not offended by extreme fan-service and quite perverted mini-games(￣▽￣)

p.s. sorry I did not transcribe Monster Musume, but you got it anyways. simply forgot about it ^^

Cazar

You could always just use a forwarding service. That’s how I import most of my games.

I’m grateful for devs like them. Happy to see the title doing well by CH’s standard. The game actually is fun and it reeks of rather high production values, don’t get all the hate CH harvest. MonMon’s awesome!

Mrgrgr and Unacceptable World

I believe the big reason for the hate here is simply that many of the fans who plung to their games thought the game will be something like Epic hero destroying enemy without any ecchi thing inside which is the total opposite of what CH does.

I myself is CH big fans from their Neptunia series and of course the recent Mugen Souls lol.^_^

you bet I am. will probably settle for the standard edition, though, as the LE simply includes swimsuit DLCs. As the character models are tiny SDs (chibis) I can safely ignore that extra eye candy, especially as I can’t use the code on my main account anyways.

psycho_bandaid

…which was pointed out in the article. Compile Heart usually hits around this mark so it was kind of a pleasant surprise for them.

You know, this is a good explanation of why their games seldom feel fleshed out. In order to sell so few that it is a success means they must have very short production cycles using the same engine over and over and over again.

Course, I still buy their games that release in the US, but figured I would just point out the above.

Flandre Scarlet

I’ll be really glad if this and their next Vita title get localized. The Vita could always use more games.

Regardless, glad they found slight success in the Vita market.

Peeka Chu

I doubt this is a big-budget game, just like all their other releases. So I don’t expect the necessary return to be very high to post a profit. Surely they will.

Because, you know, the game is actually fucking awesome. Dipped some 10 hours in already and can’t get enough. The visuals and character designs are just beautiful and the TCG-part is loads of fun. The “scratch” part is fun too ^^

What surprised me most was the amazing score. MonMon’s soundtrack is simply stellar. I wanna buy an OST and hope one will be produced.

DesmaX

Oh, so it’s actually good?

I though they would do a confusing as hell game like Mugen Souls (Since this is supposed to be a card game).

… But, if it’s good, that’s nice. Vita need some more good games anyway

The system is rather simple at first but it gains more depth later on. Every game mechanic is introduced by an illustrated tutorial. It’s as if CH were expecting foreigners to import the game as it will never receive an official English localized version. Mugen Souls had to be censored already to get that M rating (edit:// my bad, it was actually a T rating, guess it would’ve been M or AO without the edits; thanks Nazoc), and well, MS is tame in comparison to MonMon. I enjoy it quite a lot. Unfortunately screenshots are disabled, which is understandable as the game even got a CERO D for it’s over-sexualization.

Fair warning: it is hyper-sexualized and if you get offended by Japanese fan-service I advise you to keep as far away from it as you can. On the other hand the Monster-girls’ designs are quite spectacular, including some truly artsy and beautiful stuff. The youtube videos linked in some of SE coverage show those hyper-sexualized bits. I love it, but then I’m quite a huge Otaku, can’t help it.

It is very simple to get into. The only bit of extra advice I would provide, as it does not get explained in the tutorials, is limiting yourself to 2 (of 4) colors (auras) only, as playing 3 cards of the same aura consecutively earns you huge bonuses and heals your cards. This is much more difficult to achieve if you’re playing a 4 color deck.

I’d also advice to check out the scratched (i.e. relieved of that pesky armor by being molested by your fingers in that perverted mini-game demonstrated in the various videos released so far) versions of monster girls, as they are sometimes way more powerful (albeit more expensive) than their basic version. There’s the basic version, the intermediate one and the swimsuit one.

The final tip is that you can stack 2 cards of the same name (cards can have three levels – c.f. scratch part – but their name is always the same) on top of each other powering the card up significantly.

If you enjoy great art, awesome, catchy music and a simple, yet fun card battle game combined with some truly perverted mini-games you’re gonna be in for a treat.

Demon Gaze is a dungeon crawler with beautiful art. Voice acting is, as expected by most Japanese games, exemplary and the main battle system is your standard DRPG fare: Attack, Defend, Skill, Magic etc.

The Demon Mechanic (kinda like pokemon on steroids) gives you another party member. The character designs are gorgeous. You may choose from 22 male and 23 female beautifully drawn character sprites (c.f. the posted screenshot of my player character farther below). And the music does its job. It’s not as awesome as MonMon’s but it’s fairly easy on the ears.

edit:// there still seems to be some confusion despite my explanation above so I’d like to clarify it:
“Oz” and the associated sprite shown on the cover is merely the pre-set character, like Shepard in ME. You can choose your character’s appearance (there are 55 different sprites to choose from – 23f and 22m), Name (again. just like Shepard’s first name) and voice (regular, battle and death quote, 50 to choose from each, 30 female). Your character will always be addressed by the name chosen, albeit only in written dialogue. The fully voiced scenes never mention your character’s name for obvious reasons.
Including a shot of my female main character “Ako” in the replies further down. Hope this clears up any confusion.

The interesting part is that the Demon Gazer (protagonist) lives in an inn and has to pay rent for her (or his, if you so choose) own room and the rooms of her companions. The other tenants (equipment and provisions merchants) are likable as well and I haven’t encountered any annoying characters or voice acting yet.

Dungeon Crawlers are a very special kind of RPGs and won’t appeal to everybody but I’ve heard the developer has quite a good track record and experience in the genre. Quality-wise both games are satisfying and I enjoy them both. DG is also rather import-friendly as its basic mechanics should be familiar to DRPG aficionados already. If you crave new software for Vita you can’t really do wrong by buying DG but there is a high probability of it being localized, especially as it’s doing fairly well at Japanese retail.

Safros9

So you can change the main character’s gender? I thought I had heard somewhere that Oz (main character) had to be male.

You can’t change the MC’s gender, but you can change his appearance and voice.

Safros9

I thought so too, but then that guy said:
“The interesting part is that the Demon Gazer (protagonist) lives in an inn and has to pay rent for her (or his, if you so choose) own room and the rooms of her companions.”
So I’m not sure.

You can choose the Demon Gazer’s gender, voice and Name. Oz and the promo-sprite is merely the default pre-set characte (e.g. Shepard in ME) ;)
I’d like to introduce you to Ako, my female Demon Gazer (main character):

You can choose the Demon Gazer’s gender, voice and Name. Oz and the promo-sprite is merely the default pre-set characte (e.g. Shepard in ME) ;)
I’d like to introduce you to Ako, my female Demon Gazer (main character):

That design is the most appealing to me, the other ones are way too medieval-European for my tastes. I want a Japanese heroine.
Can’t comment on the sex issue. I think it’s kinda pointless to offer you the choice if your chosen gender is still considered male anyways. Haven’t played much yet, so maybe it’ll pop up sometime in the future.

You can choose the Demon Gazer’s gender, voice and Name. Oz and the promo-sprite is merely the default pre-set characte (e.g. Shepard in ME) ;)
I’d like to introduce you to Ako, my female Demon Gazer (main character):

Glad to see MonMon and Demon Gaze (thanks Elfyra) doing well. Both are great titles on their own. I think DG’s localization is a safe bet. MonMon, not so much. But then again MonMon is extremely import-friendly thanks to a plethora of illustrated tutorials as new game mechanics get introduced.

Oh, and did I mention already that MonMon’s musical score is fucking awesome?!

Nice, with that attitude you will truly have a blast. Gamers not appreciative of or easily offended by extreme Japanese fan-service and hyper-sexualized monster girls + gameplay elements should rather avoid MonMon.

Yea, the Neptune card even features a rare foil effect. I was pleasantly surprised. Now I’d just like Sony to remove that restrictive 1 account per Vita system, so we can actually use the codes provided on the card.

Aoshi00

I know, was thinking about the code, is it a new monster girl? If they don’t limit to one account, I could get the Tales of Hearts demo swimsuits and actually buy the Muramasa DLC scenarios :(..

Nice, hopefully this means that it might be able to make it overseas one day =^_^=

$24431191

I want this game but it’s pretty much guaranteed to not get localized. Looks like I may have to import it. Too bad I’m broke at the moment and importing this stuff gets kind of expensive.

Raltrios

Even though this game appears to involve shamelessly stroking off your Vita, I’d still be tempted to buy if it ever came over. Not that I’d expect it to. I would like some videos or screenshots so I can try to figure out how the card-playing works, though.

Well, they are pretty lo-poly anyways and producing 120 models (40 girls x 3 variants) sounds kinda excessive and it would be confusing I guess. Would have shot the budget up quite a bit as well. The 12 models in the game (4 classes x 3 variants depending on the amount of layers of cloth and armor covering them ^^) are way more reasonable.
The gameplay gains some more depth later on but it’s never too daunting or confusing. It can get challenging, however, if you try to randomly play cards on the field. Building units and focusing on auras is a requirement for success. Otherwise the later battles will get frustrating. Believe me, I’m talking from experience.

Raltrios

What about the cards themselves? How do you meet them, and is there anything that happens with them after you’ve acquired them? Stuff like raising stats or even conversing with whatever monster it is.

You buy booster packs or get new ones periodically as you progress the story. some are also found on the world map in story mode. the only interaction happens in story mode and is limited to Fia, Mei’s buddy and Grace, Elza’s buddy. So your sole option to raise stats is by doing the rubbing mini-game.

Raltrios

Okay, I was way off then. So the cards are more cards than monsters, then. I thought you ‘befriended’ a monster by rubbing them up, which somehow turned them into a card :P

I want MTG or Yu-Gi-Oh! on my Vita. The DS Yuugi titles were quite stellar. I ceased playing TCGs physically a long time ago as they’re too time and money consuming but I’d love to re-experience the magic again on the o on that beautiful OLED screen.

Mrgrgr and Unacceptable World

That would be nice.^_^ I mean, i am still waiting for Cardfight Vanguard to release on 3DS here as i am a huge fan of the game in RL here.
Having more TCG game regardless of platform will make me crazily happy lol.^_^

My friend introduced me to it and I was quite pleasantly surprised how well it works. Heard the anime/Manga is pretty good, too. Great artwork doesn’t hurt either.
A shame Nintendo decided to region lock 3DS as it means I will only import Japanese Vita games. Hope MTG, Vanguard or YGO will be treated to some awesome Vita renditions soon.

gamefreak86

Hey Aksys, when you localizing :)

Brandonmkii

My copy is on it’s way here. Need it nao :c

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